Okay, query. We all picked our usernames due to reasons that are often completely incomprehensible to most people. I only have burntcopper because I needed a new domain for other stuff (back when i was kabukivice) and, as was the trend at the time, your random domain was often two words smudged together, and i started playing with *random word* + *random metal*. burntcopper sounded better than burntsilver.

And then, a few years down the line, I got sick of kabukivice and in the search for a new username (the one I'd really like was taken on lj and is almost certainly taken everywhere else due to it being a very common word and naming device), thought 'why not use the one you've got the domain for? relatively unique and you don't mind it.' (it's almost completely unique, except for the bloke on myspace who managed to grab the gmail addy before I did)

Poll #1523560 username indecision
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

so, if given the choice, my username would be

Ticky?

You like Mary Morstan? This fic induces the flail. It was in response to this prompt :

'The first three made such a good team that they decided to go into business (and bed) together doing spy/detective sorts of things, and Mary decides she'd rather participate than be left on the sidelines and lose Watson. She could handle most of the administrative/legal stuff. Do want: Mary learning to be badass, femmeslash, a nice, happy, porny foursome. If you can wrangle it, I want to see Mary and Holmes have sex with each other for the first time (in the context of group sex) and learning to get along.'

Imagine Me and You (and you and you)

And now imagine an adrenaline-hyped Mary dirty with smoke, holding a pistol and getting Holmes out of an incredibly sticky situation.

THIS FIC WILL GIVE YOU THAT.

:composes letter: 'Dear Mr. Ritchie, for christmas I would like...'

Ah, it's that time of year again. Eyecandy and violence, aka Six Nations.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm hummina MMMMMMmmmmmmm Jonny Wilkinson. How does that man stay so pretty in a sport where 99% of the team have cauliflower ears and broken noses? But rather amused in the line-up for singing that his teammate completely eclipsed him. I know his position doesn't have to be big, but christ. if Jonny Wilkinson is small, how big are the rest?

Ireland/Italy. Good god, yawn much? Even the tries were boring. When it comes to awarding Man of the Match and one of the commentators goes 'Well, we had to award it to someone' you know it's bad.

England/Wales much more fun. Wales so tiny compared to England. Wales completely forget they're playing England and try a running game and screw up the first half. Seriously. Everyone knows England play a grinder game, objective #1 being 'Stop the other side moving at all'. Slightly peeved that I missed the Alun Wyn Jones stupidity and they didn't replay it. Second half, I will admit that that was a nice little run and try from Hook after his muppetness when it came to scoring penalties in the first half.

Sunday, didn't bother with Scotland/France. But considering since about midweek parents and I had had a gradually cautious ramping up of curiosity about Invictus, we went and saw it at 6pm. And yay, it is of the good. Usual spare gritty storytelling and camerawork from Clint Eastwood (I'd spent part of Friday explaining this style to Mum), brilliant performance from Morgan Freeman (who has apparently spent bloody years having tea with and observing Mandela), the only problem being that he didn't giggle enough and that you were always aware that it was Freeman *playing* Mandela (unlike, say, Helen Mirren as the Queen or Forest Whittaker as Idi Amin). Matt Damon was good as François Pienaar, as was everyone else. Many giggles came from the game scenes. Because against the actors playing the Springboks, he looks about the right size, and he'd be the right general size for the '95 team. However, come the game scenes where he was inserted into the scrums against current day players and he looks so tiny! The complete non-sensationalism style worked very well for the story, and watching Mandela latching onto how big a symbol the rugby could be was very well done. A good portion of the story is told from the POV of the security team, which really, really works. Great acting, good script with much wry humour, and no, the symbolism isn't overplayed because hello, that's how it was. Also, if you see any reviews complaining about too much rugby - no, there wasn't. Fit perfectly. And Bend It Like Beckham now has a rival for 'by the sainted boots of Bobby Robson, sport that looks engaging onscreen!' Oh, and they had them watching bits of other matches. I'd forgotten how funny Jonah Lomu trampling English players was. Also, heh on the bit in the tunnel where they're showing the Springboks going 'ohshitohshit Lomu'.

Would like to see other opinions, especially from any South Africans. need to go check on the american opinions to see how they took it. Not sure where the whining about not explaining the rules comes from, as they *do* explain bits, as the black half of the security team have no idea either. Will be amused if this film changes the 'rugby isn't so tough' perception some Americans have, since they show how beaten up you get.


snowing outside. eyeing it with caution as I didn't bring my leggings today and am not wearing the shitkicker boots.

aka Progress Theatre company, the local lot who do Shakespeare in the Abbey Ruins. (this always sells out. They're *good*.) This was the surprise my brother had been promising me as birthday treat.

Fucking hysterical. Wee bit of disconnect of book->stripped down stage, but Stephen Briggs adapted well so v. little was missed out, costumes were simple but awesome, slightly irritating use of Clannad's Second Nature as the between-scenes music, and the tiny theatre was full of Pratchett fans (you could tell because at the end of the play, where it went black after Moist and Adora Belle Dearheart theoretically walk off into the sunset, no-one started clapping because they all knew there was the Reacher Gilt scene to come). Effects - special mention to the glowing eyes they rigged for the golems and the omni-whatsit viewer.

Most of the cast were awesome (sadly, Reacher Gilt not so brilliant) - as usual, there are our fave regulars like Trevor the stage manager/director/whatever he's doing this production who always has a minor role that's a couple of lines but kills the audience every time, Moist was great, Dan playing the Patrician was channelling pure and undiluted Stephen Briggs, Assistant Junior Postman brilliant, the boy playing Stanley was sheer genius, Igor hammed it up something chronic and Adora was good. (more on her later). As ever, these people do the best bloody physical comedy and comic timing I've ever seen as a company. Even the ones who aren't brilliant actors can slay you with their timing.

My only problem? It's the first time I've seen someone playing a character based on someone I know. ABD = random_c for those who don't read this journal regularly. Actress was good, don't get me wrong, I just kept having this little voice going 'arrrgh, voice! gestures! AND WHY IS SHE NOT WEARING BLACK OR A CORSET?' ....I have no idea how people who know, say, Tony Blair IRL cope with seeing Michael Sheen playing him.

Because I'm on waaaay too many mailing lists/twitter theatre feeds, I get all the special offer emails. And am suddenly the pimp for my mates. Just fired off the latest Little Dog Laughed and Legally Blonde offers. Legally Blonde, am slightly peeved since Ambassador had a 24 hour sale for monday-thurs perfs for £45.00 (Savoy is tiny. everything except the upper circle and back row is £60), so grabbed miniosiris since she'd missed it due to snow, booked tickets. This morning? A bloody thurs matinees for £29.50 offer (however, only up to 25th march whereas we booked for May). BOLLOCKS. so my mum is now going to see it cheaper than me next week...

Out of curiosity due to someone using it in a glee fic, went looking for the In the Heights musical on spotify. Not there. :sulk: Went on youtube, fell drastically in love. checked for amazon/play. £24 on play, £18 on amazon. aka OUCH. Had major dithering about cheapness vs the fuckwittery of amazon (the latest macmillan debacle just ups the bad taste in my mouth). Then smacked self on forehead and checked dress circle. £21. it will be mine. oh yes. :whines: why can't more stuff be on spotify?

COLD. Seriously, cold. Have yet to remove leggings in office. Weekend was fucking freezing. Oh, and it snowed this morning. Not much more than about an inch, but you can tell people are now used to it since all they did was eyeroll.

Sulking slightly because Owl City is still #1, but very amused at Glee's version of 'Don't Stop Believing' slowly edging up the top ten. That and the fact that the original is apparently one of the best-selling singles of all time in total sales.

Being a bit amused by twitter. As ever, being followed by people I don't know due to random phrase usage. Including one ballerina due to a swan lake mention. Who's quite funny. But seriously, what is with all the american atheist twitters following me? I can't remember the last time I mentioned the fact that I despise religion aside from the JP2 self-harming revelations when we were taking the piss out of him.

Query for the exercise people : does doing more sit-ups do anything for your general core strength? I know it firms up your abs, but wasn't sure if it's any good for the rest of it. (brought to you by Heather trying to figure out a way to force herself to sit up straight. My posture is fine as long as I'm not sitting down) In other body-related news, moobs reduction surgery is on the rise, mostly related to obesity/weight issues. AUGH. If it's a weight issue, surely it's considerably less painful/traumatic to just fix your diet than go under the knife? I think this is one area of cosmetic surgery where women mostly only get it for non-vanity reasons.

Oh, and success: Weirded out the new office eyecandy as I was constantly glancing at him last week to figure out who he reminded me of. Turns out to be a cross between Alex and Ben Daniels (him off The State Within and Law and Order UK. The man has an Olivier. Does he have no shame?).

went jogging for first time since early december/late november. FUCKING. FREEZING. How to know it's the country : anything water and puddle-like is not liquid, it's two inches of ice and what would be mud is in fact rock. Still, did not huff and puff too much on my usual 'starting up again after :cough: weeks off' down to the lock and back. Honour is vaguely satisfied, even if I was probably going at snails' pace.

Trying to convince Firefox to resurrect my tabs. it... keeps getting half way there. at the moment, crossing my fingers and closing what tabs i can that i know I've read to attempt to get the next time a bit less arduous.

SQUEE. The wonderful thing about following actors on twitter : 'Eeee, back on Glee set!' 'Eeee, in scene with Kristin Chenoweth!' 'Ahahaha, so and so is bouncing because he's just done a scene with Kristin Chenoweth!' From this, I think we can safely conclude that Kristin is doing another episode of Glee this season. WHEEEEEEE! April? is awesome. Mind you, am rather snorting since it's been stated that Kurt and Rachel are complete Wicked addicts, and original!Glinda is amongst them...

Also wading through the Kurt/Puck fic. Oh, shush. Stil, somewhat scared that I'm in a fandom where songfic is CANON. Fortunately, it's not too abused yet.

yesterday was fun. Spent it feeling like shit, threw up before lunch, gradually went downhill until I gave up at 3pm, emailed bosses and went to bed. Didn't wake up until 12:30, then slept through to alarm. Still a tad woozy. I thought it was due to me going to bed at 3am but Shely says a bunch of people (including her)'ve had it this week. Fingers crossed.

Legally Blonde offering a fiver off tickets. Not that impressive, considering stalls and circle are £60. hrrm. Lee Mead's been cast as Fiyero in Wicked from May 10th. Should be interesting how the fangirls react. Barrowman is the villain for the last six eps of Desperate Housewives this season. Please, let the director sit on him heavily. Not that I'll actually watch it.

Oh good god. If you're going to have a squabble with your housemate at work, will you please keep the rest of us out if it? And the official word on why we get low wages is all the training we get. You mean the training that every job gives you?

:facepalm: My Glee addiction continues apace (up to ep 11 now). Bollocks.

I started off not being able to watch the screen, now I'm squeeing on twitter to et_muse about how much I love Kurt's dad. Please, please, please let him be in the second half of the season. (APRIL????) Kurt, of course I love unreservedly for his fabulosity and ability with the one liners. Sue. oh god. I thought I couldn't love Sue more and then 'Wheels', aka the Very Special Disability Episode happened. An American show that can be shallower than a puddle with sparkly shoes attached fucking well made me cry 3 times in one ep. And had a character with Downs Syndrome that I recognised from real life, as opposed to American tv land trying to make a point (though the ones I knew tended to be far bitchier). Wishing the others got more lines and chances to sing. Tina, baby, more solos. Will, just dance more. And hell, I like Will's wife. She may be unbelievably shallow and materialistic and a wee bit deranged, but she loves her husband and let the lie go too far in her attempt to keep him. Though personally I'd have had her fake a miscarriage - no pressure to produce actual baby, major sympathy points, etc.

For some reason I'm now reading Kurt/Puck fic. partly because they've both got brains, and Finn may be pretty, but Kurt, you deserve someone with a brain, and if Puck can have chemistry with all the female members of Glee, I'm sure he can have chemistry with the boys. The rest, I have no bloody idea why. My brain is weird. You know this.

Listening to Glee songs on youtube. It really was a waste for them to have Rachel sing 'On My Own' as her audition piece considering what happens later with the Rachel/Finn/Quinn.

Okay, I have no idea where to start searching for this - it's an idea I've had knocking around for a plot strand in an original fic, no idea if said story strand would even work.

Character A is Scots, lives in London. collapses outside hospital in LA with injuries from a fight, no ID or phone on him. wakes up with amnesia.

Character B brings his mate into said hospital with a twisted ankle. Sees pic of A on computer when he goes to the nurses' station. A is in fact B's regular hook-up when he's in London. So how the hell do I get B to prove who A is, or even get access or anyone to listen? (presume it doesn't help that B is a film star who's known for having a different girl on his arm every week) he's got a lot of photos and can provide facebook/flickr page, and can provide such things as tattoo and scar details. Where would I start searching for procedure on this?

TV list:

Big Bang Theory
Supernatural
Vampire Diaries
Glee
Better off Ted
True Blood
Being Human
Merlin
Dr Who

upcoming:
Spartacus
Caprica
Southland, new episodes of

A few of these I'm mainlining, or previously mainlined and am now pouting about this concept of 'waiting a week for a new episode'. It's very uncivilised. Listening to the Glee playlist on youtube and going 'oh dear FSM, what the hell is that in context of?' as am only up to ep 4.

Finally got out one of the fics I've been meaning to finish and post since, oh, October. Went through notepad and compared to the WIP on the comp. Huh. Could've sworn I wrote out more dialogue than that... Still, at least I re-started it.

Testing of innocent veg pots, #2 : the winter special (parsnip hotpot) is not bad.

Mother has taken up baking. and now she's making marmalade. We shall see how far this experiment goes.

Yesterday, in a drive to get mum's preferred honey, we buggered off to Ewelme, a village in deepest Oxfordshire. OMG COLD. V. picturesque, though. Honey's nice and is sold from the village shop, which is staffed by volunteers. And has tasty baked goods. Pootled around church, which is fucking *massive* and had me and dad going 'benefactor?' 'Yeah, someone was worried about their immortal soul' and playing the guessing game of age due to architectural features and art (they didn't stint on the inside, either). We'd figured up to 16th century until we came upon the altar and the little bit of paper that gave the actual low down. 15th century, it turns out, seat of the Duke of Suffolk. Which is also known as 'seriously rich.' Has the tomb of Thomas Chaucer and his wife, who was the father of the Duke of Suffolk's wife. Tom was the son of Geoff, and the family tree... huh. Didn't know Geoff's wife Phillippa's sister married John of Gaunt. From there both sides of the family is like a litany of 'which buggers got involved in the rather nasty game of politics' - Percys, Poles, Greys, you name it.

had made resolution to start jogging this weekend but that got scuppered by the emergency application of hot water bottle. A bit annoyed with self since I really need to get on with finishing some of the fic in my notebooks (I think I posted all of 2 pieces last year) and all I seem to want to write is AU crappy original 'verse.

Switched on Radio 2 to get the Legally Blonde cast appearance, and got dad to run screaming from room. He has allergies. rather amused by the fact that on this show (Elaine Paige - musicals and film music) you don't just have to state the cast, you have to state the year.

Finally succumbed to watching Glee. Watched ep 2, waiting for 3 and 4 to dl. A bit irritated by the way they're portraying the teacher's wife as rather 2D, but glad she's getting a bit more depth once she finds out she's not preggers. May have bust a gut laughing at the kid in the wheelchair getting to do the pimp act during 'Push It'. Please tell me the minority kids are going to get more lines and some more personality...

Went to see Little Dog Laughed last night with Pooks, starring Rupert Friend as the actor, Tamsin Grieg as his agent, Harry Lloyd as actor's boyfriend, and Gemma Arterton as the boyfriend's girlfriend. It is AWESOME. Very funny, everyone gives a great performance, and it's seriously sharp and black in places.

Plot: Up-and-comer actor and agent in NYC to get their hands on a play. Actor, when drunk, calls for a rent boy. Rent boy and him start seeing each other in a non-work capacity, with added dealing with falling for a bloke for the first time for each of them. Agent tries to keep a lid on it and manage the writer of the play. Girlfriend is really, really fucking confused and trying to deal.

( Coming out is for British actors with knighthoods )

I has photos of all the cast. I is happy. Also, seating - we were at the back of the dress circle, great view - overhang cuts off the top of the stage but doesn't matter in this as all of it takes place below that point.

in quest for twitter client for nokia s60, trialling gravity and now going to try twittix. wish me luck.

Trying to figure out if there's any musical score that's perfect. One where *every* song is brilliant.

There are musicals I love and adore, but there's nearly always one song you don't like that much and skip over/delete from your mp3 player. Anything Goes fails for having 'Easy to Love'. I thought La Cage aux Folles, but then remembered I've never been fond of 'The Best of Times is Now'.

Anyone got any that they can deem perfect or just miss it?

(interestingly, there's film scores I deem practically perfect*, but then those rarely involve lyrics and're often written with a full theme.)

In other news, listened to the Barrowman/Prenger version of 'So Close'. Nope. Daniel Boys does it better. Or has better producers. Something. I think it'd be fine if they did it individually - it *really* doesn't work as a duet - but something's definitely missing.

*Off the top of my head, Pride and Prejudice</a> + Master and Commander for recent ones.

Pubmeet, this month, was marked by certain assertions : one is that Robert Downey Jr can resurrect any franchise because he is that awesome. Especially if the main character has an addiction. Our main vote is She-Ra (yes, especially if it involves a blonde wig and the miniskirt) but we're quite happy for him to play The Doctor in Authority. But only if Alan Tudyk turns it down and resists the full-on strong arm.

gmh is evil, and responsible for horrible things. Some of which you already know about. However, it gets worse.

There were twitter conversations about whether Jaffa Cakes were one of your five a day. I asserted that they were in fact their very own nutritious food group. Somehow we added 'how to make a Jaffa Cake inedible', so yours truly volunteered Marmite and Jaffa Cakes. Later, there was the marmite war between those of who love marmite and the unbelievers.

Gideon turned up at pubmeet, and at one point produced jaffa Cakes. i pointed out that he was a fool for letting anyone know he had them. Then he produced a jar of marmite. And reminded me of the twittering and laid down the gauntlet. (admittedly the pubmeet has also been the scene of the durian taste test)

I probably made the most trepidatious faces you've ever seen before biting into it. And actually? It's not bad. Essentially tastes like marmite on oatcakes with a slightly sweet edge, and the aftertaste once you've swallowed is slightly salty Jaffa cake. Intrigued, the others tried it, and all agreed with this assertion (all of them quite surprised). We also tested the version where you put the marmite on the chocolate side, which produces very little aftertaste. And then Chrissy and I kept on eating the marmite.

Oh, and possibly the rudest inhabitants of the booth ever. They'd been there before us, we quite carefully tried to keep to one side, but due to sheer numbers filled it up, though still trying not to intrude on their table. Then they stood up and cursed us out for pushing them out. Er, what? We were trying to be reasonably quiet and we didn't even put a pint on their table as we're quite within our rights to do in a pub when there's a bunch of tables next to each other.

Things to do when walking to the station : laugh at the city types who couldn't be bothered to wear different shoes for the walk. Amazingly, expensive lace-ups aren't very good on packed snow. SKID, MONKEYBOY, SKID. In shoe news, yesterday I finally remembered about my bloody great work boots (which i mostly use for operation: christmas tree), which means I don't have to borrow mum's one-size-too-small wellies anymore. Figured out this morning that they're not incredibly scuffed, it's mostly mud.

Due to having Legally Blonde ST on repeat, am experiencing ridiculous perkiness. And bugging a bit on finding out that Chris Ellis-Stanton is playing Kyle the UPS guy (also Dewey the ex and the lead Frat boy). (cynicalcylon, we're talking Legs McBlondie from Anything Goes at Wimbledon, and miniosiris, he was Steve Lomas in The Stripper - any good?) Where the fuck did those muscles come from? Feeling a bit peeved that he wasn't dancing and singing as much as he could be (sadly not a big name yet, so i guess i should be content and just wait for him to get lead west end), but definitely feeling a bit vindicated that everyone else is now objectifying him as much as I do. :cough: Oh well, he's now officially added to Heather's list of dancers she's fixated on : Brick Shithouse, Matthew Cutler from SCD and Chris Ellis-Stanton.

HMM. Legally Blonde is on the GILT cheap tickets list. Volunteers?

Question for those've you who've been watching normally rather'n mainlining three seasons in two weeks. From about mid-way through S4, you can see definite seeds of Dean/Castiel, which ramp up to 'Will you two please get a room!' later in the season (yes, prophet episode of hysterical, I'm looking at you). I know that people were slashing Dean/Castiel during S4, but can anyone who was in the fandom then tell me when fandom started slashing them in a major way? Was it from the very beginning in the traditional 'they are pretty. we are slashers. They don't need to share the same air space for us to slash them.' way, or a bit later?

Being Human : slightly painful where they were trying to force the humour in one bit (it's fairly obvious), being a bit heavy-handed with one aspect of the villain motivation, one bit they aim to tear your heart and succeed, and the slash is happily present. We're voting that the OT3 becomes an OT4. Also, continuity of background extras for the win!

Dammit. once again, Spotify disillusions me by showing me that a composer/singer may have a couple of v. awesome songs but the rest of their output is incredibly MOR.

Yesterday was...fun. Started working, headache slowly increased to the point where I sent an email to boss saying 'Feeling like crap, going to lie down for a couple of hours' and didn't wake up for a good few hours. switched on and... headache from screen if i tried to read anything. Yay. Spent rest of afternoon watching supernatural, chair a good few feet from the screen. Shovelled a bit of snow from drive.

Today, postie finally made it (milkman came yesterday, on foot according to neighbours, which is bloody impressive) so now have our requisite load of bills and junk mail. Expedition waitrose for veg and the like, and got picked up halfway there by neighbours. Did more shovelling. Dad got the bus back from Cornwall (scheduled engineering works. Yay.) and is now deleting his spam mail whilst Charlie and The Chocolate Factory's on the tv.

Legally Blonde is officially TOO MUCH FUN. GO. GO NOW. I don't honestly have a review of it because we spent the entire production grinning our heads off or giggling. Everyone is fabulous, it's witty, it's hysterical, the dancing and singing is great (though noticeably, *very* unmiked, which isn't too bad since it's a small theatre but you do have to adjust your listening and everyone can be a bit muted), and Peter Davison Rex Harrisons his way through his songs but we don't care. And prepare to kill yourself laughing during the courtroom scenes and the reprise of the song 'Ireland'. Mind you, I did wail about not being able to get a t-shirt because there is too much pink. Kelly and birdsflying were eyeing the hoodies, though. Bit peeved as I hit the wrong button when checkign the recording for the second half so I only have ten minutes of the 2nd half. Oh well, I'll just have to see it again. SHUCKS.

Tilehurst and Purley are seriously deep in snow. Got back home fine last night, but the taxi driver said he could take me up to the roundabout but there was no way he was attempting the hill my estate's on. Getting out, couldn't agree with him more. Oxford Road, the main road, was 4 inches deep in ice. Knowsley Road (the hill) was more like 6-inch packed snow, and wasn't much different today. Very few cars are being stupid enough to attempt it. Our road is essentially snowed in, but the neighbours were making a bit of an attempt to cut a path this afternoon. The vans can't get to Tesco Metro because of the hill factor, so no milk, veg or bread. I don't care about the milk or bread but was hoping for veg as I have plenty of frozen meat. Going to be living on soup and the one or two ready meals I've got. Have canned tomatoes and a bit of salad, though. Expedition waitrose with makeshift sled on saturday - it's about three miles away, so doable.

Working from home for a few days, methinks. i can get to the station and the trains are running, but I can do without the commute and getting up at 6:30 for a bit. Did get a great message from my boss today saying that I hadn't booked holiday. me : I said I was working from home today. Have you not looked at the inbox reduction this morning?

Downside #2 : the snow is too powdery to make weird snow creatures out of. Dammit.

Birthday today. So far : handwarmers from snowballjane, truffles from birdsflying, a bra from Bravissimo from mum (directed to package at bottom of wardrobe this morning), and hat and scarf from aunt Lindsey that came in with the Xmas parcels. And a happy birthday to cidercupcakes.

In other news, I've decided I can't be arsed with posting from Dreamwidth anymore. Pissed off with not being able to do certain tags or usernames.

snow falling outside in tiny flakes and there was pavement ice in Shepherd's Bush/Kensington. But not settling. Bah. Apparently it's deep, deep snow back home. Hoping like hell I can get back tonight since I want to mess around in the snow. 'Specially considering tomorrow is birthday. (snow is normally only a february or Easter thing in Berkshire, so I'm used to it being bitter or frost-laden on my birthday, but no snow.) But still going to stop at River Island and New Look at lunch to grab another emergency change of clothing.

Question for the Colonialists : Does anyone ever use 'Ta' to say thanks? (thought they didn't use eejit either, but since I just heard Bobby use it on Supernatural, am guessing it's a matter of location.)

Changed ringtone post-christmas. have learnt my lesson - don't use a popular christmas song since you'll just think it's on the radio if it's not in your pocket. Subjected Meg to the first 20 secs of a bunch of stuff in a quest to find something that walked that fine borderline between irritating and penetrating. Which includes the final test of stuffing it in my bag on the other side of the room while something else is playing on the stereo and getting someone to ring me. Surprising how many songs that you'd think had really distinctive intros fail this. So now, I have the Theme from St Trinians by Girls Aloud.

Forcing self to listen to mp3 player on shuffle in effort to cull the mediocre stuff as I have a habit of shoving albums/concerts on there, as well as stuff you think you'll listen to and never do. One day I really need to go through every single version of Barrowman doing 'I am What I am' and cull them.

A Lady Always Knows Best Girl!Watson. interesting and well written. I think the world needs more Girl!Watson.

http://prologuefilms.com/# - these guys did the credits and titles, and they've got them up. Oh, the pretty...

At casa Meg and Jen. Full on Kale pesto'd pasta. Subjected meg to the ninth circle of Hell, aka Topshop Oxford street, possibly the worst organised store I've ever been in. Normal Topshops are fine. This one, it's like there's so much space they've no idea what to do. Suspect will end up ducking into next or River Island tomorrow to get a different top.

Achieved hat that actually covers my ears and looks halfway decent. Which makes me ponder if this weather (cold winters with snow) continues, how long the UK will take to adjust and take it in stride so everyone just goes 'oh. snow.' without it disrupting transport or work. Problem being that mass (electric) transport/motorways in the UK didn't exist the last time we had regular heavy snow in winter across the country, they only came in *after* the weather started getting warmer, so weren't built to cope with it. Hence why we don't have many snowploughs, wheel chains, or bloody great snowshovels in every garage. My parents are the only people in our street to own a proper snowshovel, and that's because they lived in Oklahoma.

It's relatively easy for individuals to adjust to cosmetic stuff. Since last winter, people are stocking up on more practical clothing and learning what kind of footwear is good for walking on ice and snow. Similar for buying blankets and getting insulation, as well as getting road salt and snowshovels. What I'm pondering is infrastructure. It's all very well to moan about the local councils not having sufficient snowploughs like in Russia, but snow ploughs are seriously expensive, and simply not worth buying if deep snow isn't a regular event. And as for rail, the rail network isn't even built to cope with wet autumns that frost over, or hot summers. Which we've been able to rely on for the last few decades.

So has anyone done any forecasts on how long it would take for society to adjust?

In related news, taking Meg up on her offer of the sofa bed tonight as have theatre expedition tomorrow to Legally Blonde and I don't really want to risk the rail network. last time they had warning, it was screwed. Course, this means I will have to buy clothing and makeup and will probably find that the rail network coped fine... I wouldn't have given a flying fuck and just stayed home if it wasn't for the theatre factor.

Back at work. What fun. Business as usual. I think my only real resolution is to get off my arse and look for a job that pays decently and is more interesting. Which I will no doubt do in occasional bursts. oh, and the usual attempt to keep self up to reasonable fitness. Problem is when I'll start jogging again - not realistically before it's lighter in the evenings. :pokes the christmas podge:

Got back from Falmouth at about 5pm to a freezing house - Cornwall is cold but a lot of it's wind-chill, with a lot of ice but not much snow. Pimp coat not necessary, it's more heavy peacoat or sheepskin weather. With an emphasis on weatherproof. Contemplated getting hiking boots while I was there, but nearly all of the bastards pinched my toes to some extent, and I have no idea how much hiking boots stretch - advice?

Looking back over the year - I really need to get off my arse and finish up and post the various fic bits in my notebooks, since aside from nano I only posted one piece of fic this year. Eeep.

On the subject of writing, I'd been doing searches for accounts of wrecks and lifeboat rescues for nano, coming up with bugger all... and didn't think to look in my RNLI news magazine which normally goes straight into the recycling after a quick flick through. Which as standard normally contains at least one current day first-person account, and often a historical account as well. :facepalm:

I don't have any resolutions. Resolutions are for those who actually have some hope of remembering their plans.

Spent most of 31st looking somewhere between 'deathly pale' and 'an interesting shade of grey', tucked up in bed as body wouldn't allow me to stand up. Yay 24 hour flu or whatever it was.

Evening, gradually recovered whilst watching Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest (for some reason the beeb is showing them out of order), got a bit to eat, then at 10:50 went 'sod it, I'm going out'. Advantage of falmouth is that you can actually do this at such a late hour.

Changed, applied make-up and ended up in The Grapes ringing in the New Year with amongst others, a bunch of Oompa-Loompas, a daggett and a pole-dancing cavegirl. A very silly and cheerful time. And It's now very sunny.

Spent the last few days watching tv and eating occasional chocolate.

In conclusion, I definitely prefer Princess Diaries 2 to Princess Diaries 1. Partly because I don't have to mute parts of it that are intensely irritating/overly american teen movie.

Family, as always, piled in to watch Pride and Prejudice and make giggly and 'awwww' noises. Told off for doing the '1,2,3, KNEE' gesture during the Bingley-Jane proposal. Was a little freaked out to realise that Bingley is Simon Woods (adult Octavian in Rome and the adorable doctor in Cranford).

Day of the Triffids, I spent most of it making 'er, plothole? Executive Transvestites : when you need a clear amoral out for themselves head, choose the best.' noises.

Explained premise of Supernatural to Mum, including vampires and the various hunters on it.

Appear to have caught bro's girlfriend's cold, just when I'd mostly got rid of mine. Leaving tissues in my wake.

Pondering going to see Sherlock Holmes. Have no desire to go anywhere near the sales, since I don't remember seeing anything I particularly wanted previously in the shops aside possibly from some hiking boots, and I'm not allowed to buy owt in the way of dvds/cds until Jan 8th as it is.

Weather - mostly sunny but cold, and today has had some sleet but it's mostly been downpour.

Parents decamping to Cornwall for New Year, and pondering joining them...

well, Dr Who was...errrr. Slightly painful to watch. All shoutiness and a rather bad plot. Made up for it with Christmas dinner and watching St. Trinians and the Grey Gardens adaptation. Earlier, neighbours for drinks and nibbles while peoples' turkeys cooked.

The haul, so far :
Blade runner
Star Trek
An apron with cows on it
Chocolate
Empire film encyclopaedia (geeky trivia, oh yes, including the original Empire reviews - seriously, 2 stars for Tombstone and saying Costner's version was better? Crack they were smoking.)

Spent a couple of hours today over at mate's mum's, playing with baby Amelia and giggling as her older sister Sophia bounced around and hunted down any olives that were stupid enough to be lying around without an electric fence around them.
Watching Young Victoria. It's rather fun.

I give you 'And Straight on 'Til Morning', an Upstairs-Downstairs romance set in the mid-1920s.

Feel free to give your honest opinion.

In London! In December!

THE APOCALYPSE IS NIGHT, MY FRIENDS.

We don't expect it to settle, but *still*.

SNOOOOOOWWWW!

On the other hand, listening to Robert Downey Jr and Jude law being very matey on Radio 4's Front Row (monday edition). AND FLIRTING. AND TALKING ABOUT BEING TOLD TO DO THE HETEROSEXUAL TAKE. :ponders: I'm sure we can get Hackthis to get Ari moaning about RDJ getting a new boyfriend who is a complete PR disaster who can't even remember the concept of a condom...

Went round Eden project in the late afternoon/evening yesterday so I could see the christmas lights for once, and oo they're pretty. Got there at 3:15 (me and two other people looked at the bus times and then went sod that, who wants to share a taxi?') Kind of wish I'd gotten there an hour earlier even with the reduced entry price, because then I wouldn't have had to rush the biodomes and would've seen more of the outside. having been to Eden so many times, these days i walk straight past the exhibits and instead go look at the season changes - the magical trees and vegetable gardens are always so worth it and of course, magical trees always appeals to my 'ooo, overgrown path, me go down it!' instinct. grabbed some soup and a gingerbread decorate your own tree, then the biodomes. Rainforest at twilight is positively weird. During daylight it's a feast for the senses, but in the semi-dark it's all sounds and mist and shapes. Mediterrean was cold for once - warmer than outside, but stil cold. But oooooo, lighting. I turned off the flash to get these amazing oranges and reds and yellows, since the piazza style layout of this biodome is beautiful once lit. suspect photos will be a bit blurry but all colours. Skating, am proud. Not once did i fall down, but picked several other people up. I really need to do this more often or at least take a couple of lessons so I can do something more than very basic. Saw the Cloud Dragon, which is all lights and smoke. Outside, the lights and christmas trees were realy pretty - wished I'd had more time but had to run for the bus, and missed it, which meant taxi and waiting for a bloody hour at a time at the stations.

Strictly - Ali, i don't care, you leave me cold, and Chris and Ricky did their tango better with no nerves. thpppbbbbt. Though, er, choreographers, if you're going to do ballroom, can we have more dance and less posing/lifts? Ali had a decent go at Argentine tango, but couldn't quite do the requisite mood. Chris may not be as good technically, but him and Ola sizzled. Ricky was just...wow. There was a reason he got a standing ovation from the studio audience.

had full cornish at beach cafe. :burp: Whilst listening to two bikers talk about european trips and service stations they have known. Took some photos, then the bikers grabbed the camera off me and took some of me.

I think it's a rule in Falmouth that all who have a medium-sized jute shopping bag must buy it from seasalt. and I appear to have bought mead from the Cornish shop. Whoops.

Today, walk to Swanpool cos it's sunny, clean flat :groan: and then bugger off to Gylly Beach cafe for a fiddle player in the evening.

At what point does someone earn the right to be called 'professor'? I've seen it applied to high school teachers in the US, which makes bugger all sense to me.

In England, 'professor' is normally only used as the title of someone at the head of a *university* department. (unless it's a college of music, where it can be the title of a tutor) You have to earn that fucker. Any other time you hear it, it's normally a teasing nickname.

So..er... what is the American usage?

In other news, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is a work of inspired lunacy. and is proof that if you put Christopher Plummer in a horribly disreputable beard and outfit, he finally stops being someone I fancy in a horribly guilt-ridden fashion.

Spent relatively chilled day. Went over to Flushing (small fishing village with not very much) for the first time in my life for the lunch hour, came back at 2pm. Grabbed a bite, put a load of washing on, went up to the Maritime Museum to see if there was anything new (not much, but then I hadn't been back in years so it was an interesting hour diversion).

Came back, stepped into living room and... squelch. Turned out a pipe had come loose from the washing machine and flooded the place. Fortunately, due to the flat not being level, it all pooled in the middle of the living room and the rugs soaked most of it up. No electrics on the floor, and a couple of tiles had come down in the flat below, so the rugs are hung out on the balcony to drip and floor is now dry after mopping it.

Still, somewhat annoying.

At 7, I'm going out to dinner and then to the local arts cinema for Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. By then, hopefully, the rugs wil have finished dripping and I can bring them in. Film better be as good as you all said.

Yours truly has spent the last few days doing a fair bit of walking around as I tend to do when in Falmouth. And got my boots muddy. Tuesday it didn't stop raining (not, I hasten to add, when my boots got muddy), Wednesday intermittent sun but mostly cloud with rain later (St. Mawes fields are v. muddy), today sunny. Pondering what to do tomorrow since all the gardens-by-ferry are not ferryable due it being winter, and I cannot be arsed to take two hours by train and bus to get there. I make exceptions for the Eden Project, but it's the Eden project. There are giant bees. And skating. And as Megs and Jen can tell you, a Heather left to her own devices will automatically look for paths that wind off somewhere that is probably muddy and full of branches and so on.

Currently doing the dance of 'Markets cure all xmas list ills' with four presents in ten minutes at the thursday late night shopping thing. Plus one hot dog. In other news, yours truly has accidentally found herself in possession of new earrings, layer cake on dvd, new trainers, an earring tree, and a knee-length diesel denim skirt. In my defence the last item was from a charity shop, and the trainers were £20 off, and my current pair have popped seams and worn away insides. Gave the shop assistants the giggles by doing various con dance moves in them (surest way to test all shoes) and then they bugged when I explained that any of my shoes have to survive mad athletic dances made up by my mates.

Working my way through Hamish Macbeth. Getting horribly distracted by Doc Brown/Hamish when I'm trying to concentrate on the story. Oh, Robert Carlyle, I'm sure we can find you another tv show with good actors and a consistently good script someday...

Spent saturday going through history tabs in Opera. Tomorrow, hopefully going to get through more of it... (look, it's healthier than still having them around)

Merlin was so much SQUEE. We actually got Morgana doing stuff! Being allowed to act! (apparently she has had scenes this season, they just ended up on the cutting room floor due to time. MUTTER.) Everyone did the Mordred squee. Fandom seriously loves Asa Butterfield. Not sure how we're going to cope when he reaches teenhood.

Watched Strictly, in which i spent a lot of time bitching about Ali and yelling 'sympathy vote!' at Leila. And introducing mum to the Chris Hollins love by showing her the Charleston vid, and she was not disappointed when it was his dances this time. Also getting whiplash from Craig being *nice* on occasion about someone other than Ali. Both of us giggled over Bruno and Len and went 'Darcy really needs to guest judge more often'. Coments about posture and crappy back muscles are always welcome. Bette Midler awesome. Argentine Tango from Vincent and Flavia was good, it's just that it's too show-type for me. Possibly because my opinions about Argentine Tango were formed by watching street performers up close, films like The Tango Lesson, Evita and Tango Por Dos's old skool. Where it's all about the control and precision and chemistry, where everyone raises an eyebrow at showy lifts. Tango Por Dos is a touring company, comprised of the Voncent and Flavia type younger performers who do lots of lifts and so on, which is very nice and impressive, but then the old guys come on and everyone's mesmerised.

Spent today packing for trip to Falmouth. This evening, off to watch Daniel Boys, Julie Atherton, Oliver Tompsett, Leanne Jones et al do a Christmas in New York concert at the Prince of Wales. Still can't believe I never went to see Notes from New York previously.

Also, you can get £10 tickets...

Went to the National Theatre yesterday to see Nation with parents and Rai, who picked up spare ticket (my brother is possibly the worst diary keeper I know - he managed to double book Eddie Izzard on the same date). Rai has not read Nation. Rai was sniffling and laughing her head off and going 'oooo' throughout.

It's brilliant. The set design alone is just.... We didn't know how they'd manage the shipwreck scenes, or the swimming, but considering everyone was spell-bound and going 'gahhhhh' whenever the blood hit the water, I'd say it was successful. (points for doing the ship with just a rope for the rail) They cut a lot, but you have to when it's book vs. staged/filmed (the only books I know that had to be expanded for the stage/film were Fight Club and Christmas Carol because they're so short). Seamless, though, and the stuff about science and gods so on was not preachy or boring, thank you critics.

Mao and Daphne are wonderfully cast - Mao's frustration with all the islanders wanting to attribute things to the gods and cling to the past, and Daphne's terribly well-bred victorian teenager that morphs into practical but horrified at what she's doing are great. They did turn up the romance a bit between Mao and Daphne, but it works as kids-just-discovering-hormones. Especially when Daphne looks utterly scandalised when the islanders tease them about it.

Islanders varied a bit between slightly iffy crowd scenes and really good individual ones. The sailors and Cox? Brilliant. Cox is, admittedly only okay until he gets to the Raiders. At which point it's a case of 'you are deeply, deeply scary'.

Milton the Parrot is a complete fucking scene stealer - does it all through body language and smug sarcastic bastardness - had audience in stitches. Grandma is also a veteran scene stealer. Points to Daphne's father when he turns up.

V. confused by some of the critics complaining that the islanders were wearing cliched grass skirts and printed woven mats. Er. What the hell else do you expect them to wear? In several places they still wear the things, especially on formal occasions. Sometimes over jeans.

I deny sniffling something chronic at the end.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/burntcopper/sets/72157622791228915/ - Cylon Attack photos

Poking various web apps I use daily/hourly.

DestroyTwitter - desktop twitter app, work. Clean and simple.
Spotify - ...this is so responsible for some of my more embarassing playlists.
Delicious
Met Office plugin - for when I want to scare myself with the amount of rain coming this way.

huh. appears I am terribly low-maintenance. Could've sworn I used more'n that.

it has just come back to me that Jenny taught us the con dance for 500 miles. And yes, it is weirdly complex due to extra steps you keep missing, and just as exhausting as doing the full bounce to that song. ...really, I didn't another one.

In other con-dance news, it appears that Grease is so embedded in the western consciousness that no-one needs to be taught it, except the etiquette that girls have to be on one side and boys on the other. Time Warp is only auto-hindbrain if you're british, judging by the amount of american and canadians we've had to teach it.

And why yes, I am zombie-like and croaky...

Back home from convention on a very cold and rainy weekend. November, did you have to finally kick in *now*?. V. silly, v. fun, rather relaxed - guests gave good value for the most part, Communion was had (Leah Cairns and Luciana assisting his holiness the rev. Johnny Wallet - poor things got fed Rich Tea biscuits for communion wafers, and whisky!cam was screencapped and printed off for sale for charity. The girls were seen going 'oh christ i hope my family doesn't find out'), and partying acheived. Jamie Bamber and James Callis were on fine form - of especial note were James describing the Bridget Jones fight and Jamie's description of revenge on Baltar where he slashed himself, and his comment on the Thistle being a shithole. Both of them bitching about driving down the M4 to get here. Alessandra is v. sweet and funny (plays the very first Cylon in Caprica, and many of the blokes were wailing about the fact that she may be 21 but they feels so dirty about fancying her since she looks 16.) Leah (Racetrack) and Luciana (Kat) were funny and revealing, Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh) is classy and awesome, but definitely needs the right questions, and Morena and Sean Maher discussed Firefly, V, and other projects - anyone know much about Human Target? - and as is usual with the Firefly lot, took the piss out of each other. far more on form on sunday as not so hungover and jetlagged.( parties and costumes )

and now, verifying nano (didn't have time to wait for the site on Friday morning - I really should've done in monday) and catching up on the fic and fandom comms...)

ETA:

Dammit. At the dry lips stage of a cold. not much more than sniffling, a bit bunged up and coughing though (not too many coughing fits, thank the FSM). Fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse before weekend.

Any recs on desktop twitter apps? currently trialling ada which I think is definitely missing some. however, I want it as minimalist as possible, along the lines of tweets60 for mobile - not interested in interfacing with facebook or screencapping the page.

Gah. Deodorant makers, why do you not make travel-sized versions?

http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_startrek/980383.html - posted on there because of the Zoe Saldana, but lookit who's next to her in that walking shot....

Idris Elba and your very favourite person. Right, I'll take Idris, you take JDM, and we can share Zoe, deal?

Ever since got smartphone, have found self wanting to write a completely self-indulgent fic where someone with one goes back to, say, the sixties or seventies (when they had the beginnings of computers so could at least get the concept) and lo, the fandom character marvels.

...And then I remember someone already wrote one. In man from U.N.C.L.E. fandom. A few years back, before cameras were common. :sulks: it's just that now you have touchscreen and files and apps and 3g and wi-fi, so you could use it to tap into radio signals, read uv things, translate...

Not to mention it's not completely obvious until it's turned on what it is, unlike the phones with keys.

(re-read Why Does Hollywood hate Ireland, a rather fabulous rant) According to Hollywood :

Irish :
rural
poor
still stuck in the 1930s
romantic as hell.

Scots :
kilts
castles
rural

Wales :
Doesn't exist.

English :
We're lucky. lots of stereotypes. none are accurate.
Hugh Grant (added rural , emotionally stifled, boarding schools.)
Evil but sophisticated and intelligent.
tourist postcard of London - royals and buses.
Chim-chimeny, mary Poppins.

Did I miss anything?

Watched Pathfinder last night (intensely violent but rather nicely shot and good to while away the time Karl urban = Viking kiddy raised by Native Americans who has to fight them off when the next batch comes a-calling). Pretty good. Wouldn't necessarily watch again, but good performances, doesn't talk down to anyone, has a not-quite expected ending and everyone is actually using their *brain*. (and of course the vikings are rapacious violent amoral bastards, what do you think this is? Fair? but they're *articulate* bastards) Plus lots of wee!karl Urban in a loincloth. No bad here. Vikings were talking in what I think was swedish since it sounded similar to the swedish used in True Blood. But I could be wrong and it's Norwegian. As ever, still a bit amazed at how much I was able to decipher (yay for common language roots! I do wonder how much French we'd be able to understand if it wasn't for enforced lessons at school.). Though would like to see the film it's based on for comparison, Ofelas which is Lapps rather'n native americans.

Mesh top for Pris arrived. Only thing is it's large rather than medium as I ordered, even though it still fits. Problem is, what kind of feedback should I leave? 'fast postage but er... the wrong size. But I'm keeping it.'

Listened to Legally Blonde soundtrack. So horribly, horribly catchy. Still confused why they didn't use 'So Much Better' on Children In Need as that's the one they're using to advertise it on the web.

:whines: why do fasteners, aka the most fiddly thing in this universe, all have to be sewn by hand? I'm sure there's a machine out there to do it, but it's probably industrial... 16 poppers for dress last night. two. sodding. hours.

Cold appears to be staying at 'blowing nose and occasional coughs'. GOOD.